“I join Mrs. Ferryman in wondering why it happened, but apparently, it did,” public defender Bruce Sturman said. “This case is a conundrum to me.”

“Well, this case is a conundrum to me, too,” New London Superior Court Judge Susan Handy said.

Doroshevich pleaded guilty in August to first-degree sexual assault. According to the terms of his plea bargain, he faced a maximum sentence of 12 years in prison, suspended after a maximum of three years served, and 10 years’ probation.

Handy ended up sentencing Doroshevich to 12 years in prison, suspended after the minimum mandatory term of two years served, and 10 years’ probation. In addition, when Doroshevich is released, he must register as a sex offender and will be required to remain registered for the rest of his life.

Sturman said Doroshevich came from a good family and served as a firefighter at the Gardner Lake Volunteer Fire Department. Three family members attended his sentencing.

“He’s indicated to me that he’s learned a lesson, that jail has really got his attention,” Sturman said. Doroshevich has been in prison since his arrest in February. “I don’t think he’ll be back here again.”

“This has been a real eye-opening experience for me,” Doroshevich said. “I made a mistake. I want to move forward with my life.”

According to police, Doroshevich attacked the girl Nov. 30, 2012, behind St. Peter and Paul Church on Elizabeth Street, where they had gone together to smoke marijuana.

“The truth is, I raped her,” Doroshevich told Norwich police, according to an affidavit for an arrest warrant.

The girl told police that she had occasionally chatted with Doroshevich, a former co-worker of her brother, through Facebook, police said. She said that she had agreed to hang out with him behind the church and smoke together, police said.

Handy speculated that it was possible marijuana had clouded his judgment that night.

The girl’s mother told police that the girl came home crying at about 7 p.m. and told her what had happened, police said. Police said the mother took the girl to The William W. Backus Hospital in Norwich and called police.

Handy said the girl has not recovered from the ordeal. “She is terrified, pretty much, of all men right now,” the judge said. At the girl’s request, she ordered Doroshevich to have no contact either with the girl or her family after he leaves prison.